Connecticut western news., 1887-03-30
MYSTERIES OF PARIS,
Dark and Dangerous Resorts of the French Metropolis.
Vaults and Cellars Where Murderers
 and Thieves Oongregate.

On leaving the Chat Noir the other night some one proposed that we should visit tho cellars near the Central mar kets, writes a Paris correspond ent of the New York Sun. In the Faubourg du Temple, at La Chapelle, and in the neighborhood of the Place Maubert these cellars or vaults below grog shops are famous as the resort of thieves and abas-c characters. They are among the sights of criminal Paris which the stran- ger rarely visits, however much his curiosity may have been awakened by the descriptions given by Eugene Sue in his 'tMysteries of Paris" So we made up party of three, and be- tween 1 and in the morning we ar rived at the Central markets. We left them to their dreams, and descended by a narrow staircase into a series of vaults, the whitexashcd ceilings of which were covered with arabesques and names written in black with the smoke of candle. In one part of these vaults group of men were drinking and singing parodies of church hymns.
 This did not come up to our cxpecta- tions, so we went to "La Jeune France" famous cellar where man had been assassinated' only few nights before. We passed through gate, down one fight of narrow stairs, then stepping, low we passed under an archway re- served in the foundations of the house, down another flight of stairs, then through another archway, along tor tuous passage, and so to tunnel about seven feet high, five feet broad, and twenty feet long. The vault of the roof was covered with green trelliswork, there were benches and rush stools to sit upon; wooden tables bearing the marks of strife; and to light us, two gas-jets. We were here at the very end of the mousetrap, and we now under stood why the police never enter these ''caveaux" is no possibility of a fair fight. When we entered the ''ca- vcau'' there was nobody there, but after we had ordered some wine two musicians came in. The one was a miserable pale fellow, half starved and half blind, with a thin blonde nous tache. He sang and accompanied him. self by striking few chords on guitar. The other was short, bony man, with a black beard, drunken blue eyes, round shoulders, and an appearance of humlli- ty, asif he were constantly afraid of re- ceiving a kick. He sang in turn, strum- ming on single bass chord. The tip given by some watcher soon broug h. four other visitors-a burIy ruffian, who wore huge red fez rising eighteen inches above his crown, a young man wearing thin cotton blouse, and two others dressed in cast off clothes of fashionable cut, without vestigc of linen. The humble musician sang, above all things, an air from 'Mignon," !" keeping bis eyes fixed on the ground as he sang, and pointing to his heart with an awkward gesture whenever the word '.heart" occurred in the romance. Sud- denly one after another half a dozen athletic, square shouldered men, vary ing in age from seventeen to twenty five, crept through the narrow archway, pass ing rapidly in without even glancing at our table, and massed themselves at the end of the vault, lollng on the benches, smoking cigarettes, and drinking at our expense, for we thought it only polite to offer these gentlemen glass of wine, the more so as the musicians were play ing for our amusement After ''Mignon'' the ruffian with the red fez asked for the guitar, took tuning fork out of his pocket, snapped it with his teeth, and tuned the instrument properly. Then the rrffian in the cotton blouse rose and with fine voice, perfect sentiment and correct gestures, sang other airs from .'Mignon," and also from "Carmen.' All the ruf1ians listened in perfect silence to the singer, who was a req l artist, and two women who had joined the band melted into tears at the end, one of them exclaiming: "Ah, music When hear 'Mignon' I can't help it. cry like a calf" The scene appeared to be idyllic rather than brigandish and terrible. Howevever, it appeared aftel all that we might have been in bette company, for at slgn from the waiter I slipped out of tie vault. "You hao better give the word to your friend tt come up stairs. The 1(.nd is almos au complet, and it is the very band tha assassinated man here last week. their chief happens to come in you might get in trouble" We did not wait to bt warned twice, but wished tine gentlemen good evening. ascended the staircase without undue precipitation, and ye with kind of internal sensation O rapidity.
 After leaving "La Jeune France" W. visited three or four less interesting cs tablishments. It was the same spectaclt in each of them. Nothing at all like thu descriptions given by Eugene Sue, anc the narratives of. other explorers o Paris. Calvator Rosa's brigands are a unreal and conve tional as his stormy landscapes.